Own academy as important contribution to company success
Fasihi Academy: growing training needs for staff and customers - digitalisation resulting in workplace changes
By further expanding Fasihi Academy, established in 2015, our company is responding to the rapidly growing training needs for customers and own staff regarding Industry 4.0 and digitalisation. The Academy also provides several degree courses in cooperation with the Steinbeis University Berlin. Chief executive Fasihi: "Our academy was founded at the right time. Already now it is greatly contributing to our company's success. I can only recommend other companies to take similar steps as workplaces will be changing considerably through digitalisation in the future.
The connection between the academy's growth and Fasihi GmbH is easily comprehensible: Since staff count increased from 55 to 75 (16 percent) between 2015 and 2017 and sales went up from 4.7 to 6.8 million euros (20 percent).
The figures from 2017 speak for themselves: Altogether, various regular training courses about different topics were made available to our own staff and carried out once a week. Spread over the year, we registered 628 training participants, trained in 668 hours. In comparison: In 2016, 563 participants attended courses amounting to 132 training hours. This represents an increase of 476 percent for pure training hours.
Training courses for the staff are in two respects very important for Fasihi GmbH: On the one hand, own staff members will always be informed about the state of the art, and on the other hand, they will constantly learn about the changing requirements made by our customers. Especially new colleagues receive intensive preparation for their future tasks within the company. Chief executive Saeid Fasihi: "Particularly in times of rapidly progressing digitalisation, we have to be prepared for the new challenges in order to gain a competitive advantage over our competitors by our advance in knowledge. The same, of course, applies to our customers. Our aspiration is to always keep us and our customers on the cutting edge of technology."
More and more customers are coming to our training
Customers take the opportunity to enrol for our training. Whereas in 2016, there were only 40 training courses, amounting to 120 hours, with around 200 participants, the number significantly increased in 2017: More than 1,000 participants took part in 200 training events, totalling to 700 hours - representing a 483 percent increase in training hours within only one year. Marius Pollmer, head of Fasihi Academy: „For us it is crucial to invest in the continual further training of our staff and customers. This is also shown by the positive feedback regarding our training offerings of about 50 topics and modules as well as our experience for carrying out the training.“
Customers from different industries are primarily trained in the handling of around 70 portal solutions employed by more than 80,000 users. Mostly, these portals are used to digitally display information and communications processes within the scope of Industry 4.0.
Internal usage
One of the principles of Fasihi Academy is to advise and train customers directly on site. Because of the global presence of our customers, there is an increasing need for sending staff on international business trips. Last year, for instance, employees were sent to different appointments in Switzerland and Norway. Most recent example: In February 2018, two Fasihi experts travelled to Sao Paulo in Brasil on our customer's request to familiarise them with the details of the Fasihi Enterprise Portal and their digital workplace. Frequently, customers from Asia take advantage of the opportunity to receive training via web conferences.
Because of the strong demand for portal solutions, the company will be hiring even more staff. They are looking for project managers, experienced developers for mobile apps and Java developers.
Together with experts from the economy and their own experts, Fasihi Academy provides a wide range of topics around information technology and digitalisation for customers and other interested parties. Among others, Fasihi works together with the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University, the Graduate School Rhine-Neckar and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for the Palatinate.
Certificate study courses at Institute of Sustainable Leadership
In cooperation with the Institute of Sustainable Leadership of the Steinbeis University Berlin, Fasihi Academy provides several degree courses. Interesting parties, including own staff, have an opportunity to choose individual seminars from Fasihi Academy. Foremen and technicians or people with a specialised and general university entrance qualification may take up the study courses which will be completed by receiving a degree as „WEB inFACTORY Expert“ or „FEP Expert“ (FEP = Fasihi Enterprise Portal). WEB inFACTORY is a web-based service portal by Fasihi GmbH steering information and communications processes within the frame of industry 4.0.
Early on Fasihi recognised the importance of further training in the labour market. Professor Wilfried Mödinger of Steinbeis University: „Those who wish to meet the growing requirements and keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and the economy must provide manifold offerings of specialist lectures, seminars and workshops around the topic of information technology to their staff and customers. It is crucial to pass on this knowledge to customers and staff. This also means that knowledge should be implemented into concrete actions as quickly as possible through further training with a practical orientation. Therefore, knowledge management is associated with the development of skills and competencies - also through processes organised by management and executives themselves. For this, Fasihi Academy has set an excellent example.“
Altogether, Fasihi Academy is based on five columns:
Education
Own apprentices and students of dual studies achieve high knowledge levels through regular trainings.
Internal training
All staff of Fasihi GmbH should always be up to speed by participating in internal further training and seminars.
Further training
Fasihi Academy provides an opportunity to choose from various offers for external further training for their staff.
Customer specific training
Customers of Fasihi GmbH will always stay updated about the latest status of Fasihi Software by receiving individual training.
Seminars/lectures
Fasihi Academy regularly offers specialist events around the topic of information technology to their customers and interested parties.